Section 206N-6 - Permitting process in the right of wayThe State or county may require an applicant to obtain one or more permits to collocate a small wireless facility or install a modified or replaced utility pole associated with a small wireless facility as provided in section 206N-5; provided that the permits are of general applicability and do not apply exclusively to small wireless facilities. The State or county shall receive permit applications and process and issue permits subject to the following requirements:
(1) The applicant shall provide a geographical description of the project area, if required by the State or county;(2) The applicant shall provide a listing and description of the condition of utility poles, light standards, buildings, and wireless support structures included in the project for the installation, mounting, operation, and placement of small wireless facilities, including an assessment of the identifying information, location, and ownership of the listed utility poles, light standards, buildings, and structures, if required by the State or county;(3) The applicant shall provide a description of the equipment associated with the facilities to be installed in the project area, including radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial or fiber-optic cables, power supplies, and related equipment, and the size and weight of the equipment to be installed on each pole, building, or structure, if required by the State or county;(4) The State or county shall not require, but may negotiate, an agreement with a communications service provider to provide in-kind contributions of goods or services in lieu of or in addition to any rates, charges, terms, and conditions governing the installation of small wireless facilities on State- or county-owned property, such as an agreement to reserve fiber, conduit, or pole space for State or county use;(5) The State or county shall not require the placement of small wireless facilities on any specific utility pole or category of poles or require multiple antenna systems on a single utility pole;(6) The State or county shall not limit the placement of small wireless facilities by minimum separation distances; provided that the State or county may limit the number of small wireless facilities placed on a single utility pole;(7) The State or county may require an applicant to include an attestation that the small wireless facilities will be operational for use by a communications service provider within one year after the permit issuance date; provided that the State or county and the applicant may agree to extend this period or the period may be tolled if there is a delay caused by lack of commercial power or communications transport facilities to the site; provided further that the State or county may rescind a permit if the small wireless facility is not operational within one year or any agreed-to time beyond one year;(8) Within thirty calendar days of receiving an application, the State or county shall notify the applicant in writing whether the application is complete. If an application is incomplete, the State or county shall specifically identify all missing information in writing. The processing deadline in paragraph (9) shall be tolled from the date the State or county sends the notice of incompleteness until the date the applicant provides the missing information;(9) An application shall be processed on a nondiscriminatory basis and deemed approved if the State or county fails to approve or deny the application within ninety calendar days of receipt of the application. The processing deadline may be tolled in accordance with paragraph (8) or by agreement of the applicant and the State or county; provided that until December 31, 2019, if an applicant submits to the State or to the same county fifty or more applications within any thirty-calendar-day period to collocate small wireless facilities, then the State or county may, upon notice to the applicant, extend the period for reviewing the applications to one hundred and twenty calendar days;(10) The State or county may deny a proposed collocation of a small wireless facility or the modification of a modified or replaced utility pole that meets the requirements in section 206N-5(c) only if the proposed collocation: (A) Interferes with the safe operation of public safety equipment;(B) Interferes with sight lines or clear zones for transportation or pedestrians;(C) Interferes with compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar federal or state standards regarding pedestrian access or movement;(D) Fails to comply with reasonable and nondiscriminatory spacing requirements of general application adopted by ordinance that concern the location of ground-mounted equipment. Such spacing requirements shall not prevent a small wireless facility from serving any location;(E) Fails to comply with building or other applicable codes;(F) Causes the utility pole to be unable to bear the additional weight of the facilities, taking into account any state or county reservation of capacity authorized by this chapter; provided that a denial shall include a condition that the installation will be approved if the communications service provider agrees to replace, at its own cost, the utility pole with one that can bear the additional weight; or(G) Causes the load-carrying capacity of the State- or county-owned utility pole, building, or structure, to exceed seventy per cent as determined by the appropriate state or county agency;(11) The State or county shall document the basis for a denial, including the specific provisions of law on which the denial was based, and send the documentation to the applicant on or before the day the State or county denies an application. The applicant may address the deficiencies identified by the State or county in its written denial and resubmit a revised application within thirty calendar days of the written notice of denial without paying an additional application fee. The State or county shall have ninety calendar days from the date of receipt of the revised application to approve or deny the application. Any subsequent review of additional revisions to a revised application shall be limited to the deficiencies cited in the documentation noting the basis for denial of the revised application; provided, however, that the State or a county may address deficiencies in the original or subsequent revised versions of the application that were missed in good faith and that were not documented in a written denial;(12) An applicant seeking to collocate multiple small wireless facilities within a three-mile radius may, at the applicant's discretion, file a consolidated application and receive a single permit for the collocation of no more than twenty-five small wireless facilities; provided that the denial of the collocation of one or more small wireless facilities in a consolidated application shall not delay processing of any other small wireless facilities in the same batch; provided further that within ten calendar days of receiving a permit for a consolidated application, the applicant shall publish notice of the permit in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the small wireless facility is to be located; provided further that the notice shall include a phone number for the communications service provider that the public may contact;(13) Installation or collocation for which a permit is granted pursuant to this section shall be completed within one year of the permit issuance date; provided that the State or county and the applicant may agree to extend this period or the period may be tolled if a delay is caused by lack of commercial power or communications transport facilities to the site; provided further that the State or county may rescind a permit if the small wireless facility is not operational within one year or any agreed-to time beyond one year. Approval of an application authorizes the applicant to:(A) Undertake the installation or collocation; and(B) Subject to applicable relocation requirements and the applicant's right to terminate at any time, operate and maintain the small wireless facilities and any associated utility pole covered by the permit for a period of not less than twenty years, which shall be renewed for equivalent durations so long as the facilities and pole comply with the criteria set forth in this subsection; provided that the State or a county may remove a utility pole if it decides to do so;(14) The State or county shall not institute, either expressly or de facto, a moratorium on filing, receiving, or processing applications or issuing permits or other approvals, if any, for the collocation of small wireless facilities or the installation or modification of utility poles to support small wireless facilities; provided that this paragraph shall not be construed to apply to existing moratoria on applications to trench or excavate newly repaved streets;(15) The State or county shall not require an application or permit, or charge any rate, fees, or compensation for: (B) Replacement of small wireless facilities with small wireless facilities that are substantially similar or the same size and weight or smaller; provided that the communications service provider shall notify the state or county department by which the small wireless facility was originally approved at least ten calendar days, but no more than sixty calendar days, prior to commencing the replacement; or(C) Installation, placement, maintenance, operation, or replacement of micro wireless facilities that are strung on cables between utility poles, in compliance with the national electrical safety code.Added by L 2018, c 49,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2018 and applicable to permit applications filed with the state or county after 12/31/2018.